Hi, my name is Gwen Connor and I am a junior at the University of Pittsburgh studying Supply Chain Management and Marketing. I’m spending my spring semester doing an exchange program at the KEDGE Business School in Marseille, France. At KEDGE, you can either be in the IBBA/Kedge Bachelor program or the Master of Management program. As a result of the classes I’ve taken so far at Pitt, I am in the IBBA/Kedge Bachelor program.
Ever since saving up for my high school’s Travel Club trip to Ecuador, I knew I wanted to study abroad while in college. Going into college, I knew if I wanted to make that happen, the tuition for the program had to be covered. Luckily, Pitt offers many different exchange programs and KEDGE was the one that best aligned with my interests and future goals. I can gain international experience inside and outside the classroom that I can apply to my majors without missing out on pre-senior year summer internships due to the similarities between KEDGE and Pitt’s academic calendar.
Due to the practicality and almost limited thinking I had about what program to choose, my goals for this semester include becoming more adaptable to new situations and contexts (especially the French lifestyle) as well as improving my relationship with myself.
During orientation, the first difference I noticed was regarding the structure and attitude by which everything was conducted. Although everything that was scheduled ended up happening, there was an extremely “laissez-faire” attitude about work and school that I was not used to coming from the States. Whereas in the States, I let structure and organization “control” a lot of what I do, (so far) here I’m learning to let go of my stress and trying to feel comfortable with the unknown. While I’ve only had one class so far, a similarity I’ve found is with the level of interaction professors have with the students in smaller size classes. With classes being 3 hours long, these conversations between professor and student make the class go by a lot faster and make my understanding of the content deeper.
Funnily enough, my street is all under construction so it reminds me a lot of Pittsburgh. That aside, I live in a central neighborhood called Castellane with four guys (one from Pitt, one from Portugal, and two from Quebec) and there are plenty of markets and boulangeries within walking distance. Although I was nervous at first about living with four guys, it has been super fun getting to know them and playing card games together. As we are all KEDGE students, it was also nice to know a few people going into orientation and the first week of classes. I’m not even a month in and I’m already so grateful for everything I’ve learned and experienced abroad. I’m excited for what’s to come and can’t wait to write more as the semester continues!
